Bows and Arrows, Bonfires and the Light of Chassidus
A soldier was taking a walk through the forest, when he came upon a tree with a circle painted on it and an arrow shot right into the center. It was a perfect bull's eye! To his surprise, he came upon more trees, also with a circle and an arrow shot right in the center!
"Fascinating!" thought the soldier to himself. "There must be a most skilled archer living around these parts."
Suddenly, he came upon a drunkard, who was sitting on a tree stump swigging a bottle of schnapps. Next to him lay a bow and arrow, and a bucket of paint and a brush.
The soldier stared at him. "You – you could not have been the one who shot those arrows!" he exclaimed.
"It was my doing!" said the drunkard, schnapps dripping down his chin. He wiped his chin with his sleeve, then gargled and spat on the ground.
"But you are a drunkard!" exclaimed the soldier. "I'll bet you are also uneducated and illiterate to boot, by the looks of you!"
The drunkard didn't seem to be insulted by this remark. He just smiled. "Well, it's true!" he said.
"Well how, pray tell, did a boorish drunkard like you ever learn to become such an accurate marksman?"
"Ah, let me show you my secret, mate!" said the drunkard, rising from his stump. "Here's how I do it." He grabbed his bow and arrow, and shot at the nearest tree, hitting it. Then he picked up his paint bucket, stepped leisurely up to the tree, and painted a circle around the arrow. "See there?" he said to the perplexed soldier. "This is my secret – first I shoot the arrow into the tree, then I paint the circle around the arrow!"
* * *
As we know, we are living in the lowest generation of them all, the generation right before the coming of the Geulah. In comparison with all the great Yidden of the past – great Torah giants, who throughout history did the utmost mesirus nefesh to keep the flame of Torah and Yiddishkeit burning in a dark world of galus – we are nothing much; in comparison, we are like the drunkard in that story, uneducated and illiterate, with only an inkling of the Torah knowledge that our forefathers of days of yore possessed.
Yet, we are given the most important task of all, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe MH"M: To do all we can to bring the Geulah – to tip the scale in our favor, that the Rebbe MH"M will be revealed to us again, and he will lead us out of the galus, into the Geulah!
And remarkably, it is not huge things that we need to do to achieve this end – it is simple things; tzeddakah, acts of kindness.... And with all the amazing technology we possess in our day and age, and the widespread democracy throughout the world that enables us to live as Torah-true Yidden everywhere, we possess the greatest of opportunities to seize the day, to do so much, every day, in order to fulfill our sublime mission.
Yet... there often appear to be obstacles in our path. Parnassah issues. Paying the bills. Paying the mortgage. One may ask, how can it be possible to constantly be thinking about our holy task in the world when there are always all these obstacles and distractions?
The Previous Rebbe has addressed this issue in Basi Legani – regarding the pasuk (Vayikrah 1:2): "A man who shall bring from you a korban to Hashem – of the cattle, of the herd and of the flock, shall you bring your korban."
The Medrash explains that this fire that consumed the korbanos in the Beis Hamikdash was heavenly fire, in the shape of a lion. It was fire that could not be extinguished by water. This fire represents the light of the G-dly soul – and the animal being given as a korban represents the animal soul. Bringing a korban means that our G-dly soul "consumes" our animal soul – elevating it to holiness!
The fire could not be consumed by water – as it is written in Shir Hashirim (8:7): "Great waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers drown it." These "great waters" are the worries of parnassah and other day-to-day disturbances that distract a Yid from being able to do his avodah in the world properly!
In the above pasuk, we need to emphasize: "A man who shall bring from *you* a Korban to Hashem...." The korban is to be brought literally from "you" – that the korban, the sacrifice, must come from within you!
Thus we understand that even in our day and age, sacrifice is still required – in order to go the extra mile in doing our avodah – we do not allow the animal soul to get the better of the G-dly soul, chas v'shalom – but the other way around!
This brings about the ability to see past the illusions of this world. These day-to-day challenges that we have, they don't actually have a true existence. The only true existence in the world is Hashem and His Torah.
The Rebbe MH"M has given an explanation on this matter, in his ma'amer (in his Sefer Hama'amerim 5736) on the pasuk in Tehillim (60:6): "You have given the ones who fear You trials with which to be tested, for the sake of truth, forever."
Throughout our lives, we are given tests in our avodah, by Hashem – and the goal is to overcome these tests, by seeing through the illusion.
The Targum Yonasan explains regarding the word "truth" in the pasuk – that this is the truth of Avraham – who passed the ten tests given to him by Hashem.
The Medrash tells us that when Avraham and Yitzchak were on their way to Har Hamoriyah, the Satan came and disguised himself as a river. They proceeded to cross the river, and the water rose – until it was up to their necks. Avraham declared, "Satan, we know this is you – and we are not impressed by you! You are just an illusion! Be gone, at once!" And the waters immediately went down, and the river dried up!
When we find ourselves "drowning" in the tribulations of this world, we must remember, it is but an illusion! The "great waters" cannot consume the heavenly fire of our G-dly soul!
"Great waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers drown it."
Nothing can stop us from fulfilling our mission.
Now – all this leads to the essence of that which we celebrate on Lag Ba'omer!
On the night of Lag Ba'omer, we celebrate by making a big bonfire, commemorating the tremendous light that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai brought into the world, when he revealed the hidden secrets of the Torah to the world.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai had openly opposed the Romans – with the "audacity" to proclaim that there was nothing good about them; they were only there as an obstacle for the Yidden, to prevent them from keeping Torah and mitzvos properly.
Over the thirteen years that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son spent in hiding, he wrote the Zohar – for the first time putting into writing the hidden secrets of the Torah – which paved the pathway, ultimately, for the disseminating of the wellsprings of Chassidus, commenced by the Ba'al Shem Tov, and to an even greater degree, the Alter Rebbe.
As we know, Lag B'omer, aside from being the yartzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, was also the day when the plague that was killing Rabbi Akiva's students stopped. This plague had occurred because Rabbi Akiva's students did not treat each other respectfully.
Thus, on Lag B'omer, we are reminded of the sublime lesson of the importance of Ahavas Yisroel – as Rabbi Akiva taught us: "You shall love your fellow as yourself – this is the great rule of the Torah."
And as we know from the famous story of Hillel Hazaken and the pagan who wanted to learn the entire Torah standing on one foot – and Hillel Hazaken gave him a surprise: Love your fellow as yourself, that is the entire Torah! The rest is commentary....
It is also the entire aspect of Chassidus – for Chassidus literally means: "Kindness."
In our generation, here and now, we have the opportunity to bring the Geulah. And as the Rebbe MH"M tells us, we can do it – through increasing in Ahavas Yisroel and acts of kindness!
And here is our reminder, through lighting and taking part in the bonfire on the night of Lag B'omer, of the importance of our avodah and the great light we draw down into the world through following in the ways of Torah and Chassidus, and doing all we can to bring the Geulah – when we will draw down the loftiest light into the world. It's all about Ahavas Yisroel and acts of kindness and tzeddakah.
And though there are obstacles and distractions – they are but an illusion. The raging waters cannot and will not detour us from our holy avodah. For our G-dly soul is a great fire that consumes and elevates the animal soul, and all the gashmiyus that we have to work with, to elevate it to holiness.
And though we are in the lowest of all the generations, and we are in the darkest of galus, we must always keep to mind what the Alter Rebbe tells us in Tanya – that a little light dispels much darkness!
We also take into account the concept of lechatchiler ariber – going over the obstacles, rather than reckoning with them.
It is not necessary to be an expert at Torah. We do not need to paint the circle first. We can shoot the arrow first!
Every one of us can take part in this great mission we have, in our generation. Every one of us! And anything that distracts us from this mission – it is but an illusion, an illusion that we must see through – for there is nothing real actually there. Nothing is real other than the avodah we have before us, to get done.
May it be Hashem's will, that even before this Lag Ba'omer, we will have reached the culmination of our avodah – the true and complete Geulah!
"Fascinating!" thought the soldier to himself. "There must be a most skilled archer living around these parts."
Suddenly, he came upon a drunkard, who was sitting on a tree stump swigging a bottle of schnapps. Next to him lay a bow and arrow, and a bucket of paint and a brush.
The soldier stared at him. "You – you could not have been the one who shot those arrows!" he exclaimed.
"It was my doing!" said the drunkard, schnapps dripping down his chin. He wiped his chin with his sleeve, then gargled and spat on the ground.
"But you are a drunkard!" exclaimed the soldier. "I'll bet you are also uneducated and illiterate to boot, by the looks of you!"
The drunkard didn't seem to be insulted by this remark. He just smiled. "Well, it's true!" he said.
"Well how, pray tell, did a boorish drunkard like you ever learn to become such an accurate marksman?"
"Ah, let me show you my secret, mate!" said the drunkard, rising from his stump. "Here's how I do it." He grabbed his bow and arrow, and shot at the nearest tree, hitting it. Then he picked up his paint bucket, stepped leisurely up to the tree, and painted a circle around the arrow. "See there?" he said to the perplexed soldier. "This is my secret – first I shoot the arrow into the tree, then I paint the circle around the arrow!"
* * *
As we know, we are living in the lowest generation of them all, the generation right before the coming of the Geulah. In comparison with all the great Yidden of the past – great Torah giants, who throughout history did the utmost mesirus nefesh to keep the flame of Torah and Yiddishkeit burning in a dark world of galus – we are nothing much; in comparison, we are like the drunkard in that story, uneducated and illiterate, with only an inkling of the Torah knowledge that our forefathers of days of yore possessed.
Yet, we are given the most important task of all, by the Lubavitcher Rebbe MH"M: To do all we can to bring the Geulah – to tip the scale in our favor, that the Rebbe MH"M will be revealed to us again, and he will lead us out of the galus, into the Geulah!
And remarkably, it is not huge things that we need to do to achieve this end – it is simple things; tzeddakah, acts of kindness.... And with all the amazing technology we possess in our day and age, and the widespread democracy throughout the world that enables us to live as Torah-true Yidden everywhere, we possess the greatest of opportunities to seize the day, to do so much, every day, in order to fulfill our sublime mission.
Yet... there often appear to be obstacles in our path. Parnassah issues. Paying the bills. Paying the mortgage. One may ask, how can it be possible to constantly be thinking about our holy task in the world when there are always all these obstacles and distractions?
The Previous Rebbe has addressed this issue in Basi Legani – regarding the pasuk (Vayikrah 1:2): "A man who shall bring from you a korban to Hashem – of the cattle, of the herd and of the flock, shall you bring your korban."
The Medrash explains that this fire that consumed the korbanos in the Beis Hamikdash was heavenly fire, in the shape of a lion. It was fire that could not be extinguished by water. This fire represents the light of the G-dly soul – and the animal being given as a korban represents the animal soul. Bringing a korban means that our G-dly soul "consumes" our animal soul – elevating it to holiness!
The fire could not be consumed by water – as it is written in Shir Hashirim (8:7): "Great waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers drown it." These "great waters" are the worries of parnassah and other day-to-day disturbances that distract a Yid from being able to do his avodah in the world properly!
In the above pasuk, we need to emphasize: "A man who shall bring from *you* a Korban to Hashem...." The korban is to be brought literally from "you" – that the korban, the sacrifice, must come from within you!
Thus we understand that even in our day and age, sacrifice is still required – in order to go the extra mile in doing our avodah – we do not allow the animal soul to get the better of the G-dly soul, chas v'shalom – but the other way around!
This brings about the ability to see past the illusions of this world. These day-to-day challenges that we have, they don't actually have a true existence. The only true existence in the world is Hashem and His Torah.
The Rebbe MH"M has given an explanation on this matter, in his ma'amer (in his Sefer Hama'amerim 5736) on the pasuk in Tehillim (60:6): "You have given the ones who fear You trials with which to be tested, for the sake of truth, forever."
Throughout our lives, we are given tests in our avodah, by Hashem – and the goal is to overcome these tests, by seeing through the illusion.
The Targum Yonasan explains regarding the word "truth" in the pasuk – that this is the truth of Avraham – who passed the ten tests given to him by Hashem.
The Medrash tells us that when Avraham and Yitzchak were on their way to Har Hamoriyah, the Satan came and disguised himself as a river. They proceeded to cross the river, and the water rose – until it was up to their necks. Avraham declared, "Satan, we know this is you – and we are not impressed by you! You are just an illusion! Be gone, at once!" And the waters immediately went down, and the river dried up!
When we find ourselves "drowning" in the tribulations of this world, we must remember, it is but an illusion! The "great waters" cannot consume the heavenly fire of our G-dly soul!
"Great waters cannot quench the love, nor can rivers drown it."
Nothing can stop us from fulfilling our mission.
Now – all this leads to the essence of that which we celebrate on Lag Ba'omer!
On the night of Lag Ba'omer, we celebrate by making a big bonfire, commemorating the tremendous light that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai brought into the world, when he revealed the hidden secrets of the Torah to the world.
Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai had openly opposed the Romans – with the "audacity" to proclaim that there was nothing good about them; they were only there as an obstacle for the Yidden, to prevent them from keeping Torah and mitzvos properly.
Over the thirteen years that Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son spent in hiding, he wrote the Zohar – for the first time putting into writing the hidden secrets of the Torah – which paved the pathway, ultimately, for the disseminating of the wellsprings of Chassidus, commenced by the Ba'al Shem Tov, and to an even greater degree, the Alter Rebbe.
As we know, Lag B'omer, aside from being the yartzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, was also the day when the plague that was killing Rabbi Akiva's students stopped. This plague had occurred because Rabbi Akiva's students did not treat each other respectfully.
Thus, on Lag B'omer, we are reminded of the sublime lesson of the importance of Ahavas Yisroel – as Rabbi Akiva taught us: "You shall love your fellow as yourself – this is the great rule of the Torah."
And as we know from the famous story of Hillel Hazaken and the pagan who wanted to learn the entire Torah standing on one foot – and Hillel Hazaken gave him a surprise: Love your fellow as yourself, that is the entire Torah! The rest is commentary....
It is also the entire aspect of Chassidus – for Chassidus literally means: "Kindness."
In our generation, here and now, we have the opportunity to bring the Geulah. And as the Rebbe MH"M tells us, we can do it – through increasing in Ahavas Yisroel and acts of kindness!
And here is our reminder, through lighting and taking part in the bonfire on the night of Lag B'omer, of the importance of our avodah and the great light we draw down into the world through following in the ways of Torah and Chassidus, and doing all we can to bring the Geulah – when we will draw down the loftiest light into the world. It's all about Ahavas Yisroel and acts of kindness and tzeddakah.
And though there are obstacles and distractions – they are but an illusion. The raging waters cannot and will not detour us from our holy avodah. For our G-dly soul is a great fire that consumes and elevates the animal soul, and all the gashmiyus that we have to work with, to elevate it to holiness.
And though we are in the lowest of all the generations, and we are in the darkest of galus, we must always keep to mind what the Alter Rebbe tells us in Tanya – that a little light dispels much darkness!
We also take into account the concept of lechatchiler ariber – going over the obstacles, rather than reckoning with them.
It is not necessary to be an expert at Torah. We do not need to paint the circle first. We can shoot the arrow first!
Every one of us can take part in this great mission we have, in our generation. Every one of us! And anything that distracts us from this mission – it is but an illusion, an illusion that we must see through – for there is nothing real actually there. Nothing is real other than the avodah we have before us, to get done.
May it be Hashem's will, that even before this Lag Ba'omer, we will have reached the culmination of our avodah – the true and complete Geulah!